Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day
| based on = | narrator = Sebastian Cabot | starring = | music = Songs: Score: Buddy Baker Jack Hayes Leo Shulken | cinematography = | editing = | studio = Walt Disney Productions American Zoetrope | distributor = Buena Vista Distribution Warner Bros.-Seven Arts | released = (with The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit) | runtime = 25 minutes | country = United States | language = English }} Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day is a 1968 animated featurette based on the third, fifth, ninth, and tenth chapters from Winnie-the-Pooh and the second, eighth, and ninth chapters from The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne. The featurette was directed by Joe Dante, produced by Walt Disney Productions and American Zoetrope and released by Buena Vista Distribution Company and Warner Bros.-Seven Arts on December 20, 1968 as a double feature with the live-action comedy feature The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit. This was the second of the studio's Winnie the Pooh shorts. It was later added as a segment to the 1977 film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The music was written by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman.Osborne, Jerry. "Movie/TV Soundtracks and Original Cast Recordings Price and Reference Guide." Google Books. 27 January 2015. It was notable for being the last animated short produced by Walt Disney, who died during its production. It starred the voices of Sterling Holloway as Winnie the Pooh, Sebastian Cabot as the Narrator, Jon Walmsley as Christopher Robin, (replaced Bruce Reitherman), Elizabeth Hartman as Kanga, Clint Howard as Roo, Paul Winchell as Tigger, Ralph Wright as Eeyore, Roddy McDowall as Owl, Howard Morris as Gopher, and Junius Matthews as Rabbit. Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. The Academy Award was awarded posthumously to Walt Disney, who died of lung cancer two years before the film's initial release. It is also the only Winnie the Pooh production that won an Academy Award. (Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too, which was released six years later in December 1974, was nominated for the same Academy Award, but lost to Closed Mondays.) The animated featurette also served as an inspiration for the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride in Walt Disney World in which the rider experiences several scenes from the cartoon, including Pooh's Heffalump and Woozle dream. Sources The film's plot is based primarily on seven A. A. Milne stories: "In which Eeyore finds the Wolery and Owl moves into it" (Chapter IX from The House at Pooh Corner) "In which Tigger comes to the forest and has breakfast" (Chapter II from The House at Pooh Corner), "In which Pooh & Piglet go hunting and nearly catch a Woozle" (Chapter III of Winnie the Pooh), "In which Piglet does a very grand thing" (Chapter VIII from The House at Pooh Corner), "In which Christopher Robin gives a Pooh Party and we say goodbye" (Chapter X of Winnie-the-Pooh) and "In which Piglet is entirely surrounded by water" (Chapter IX of Winnie-the-Pooh), with elements taken from "In which Piglet meets a Heffalump" (Chapter V from Winnie-the-Pooh: Winnie the Pooh's nightmare of Heffalumps and Woozles). In A. A. Milne's original story, Pooh shows more initiative during the flood, finding his way to Christopher Robin by riding on one of his floating honey pots, which he names The Floating Bear, then having the inspiration of using Christopher Robin's umbrella to carry them both to Piglet's house.A. A. Milne. Winnie-the-Pooh, Chapter IX Plot On a very windy day, Winnie the Pooh visits his “thoughtful spot”. As Pooh sits thinking, Gopher pops out of the ground and advises him to leave as it is a "Winds-day". Misunderstanding the warning, Pooh goes across the Hundred Acre Wood to wish everyone a happy Winds-day. He arrives at the beech tree home of his friend Piglet, who is nearly blown away while trying to rake leaves, but Pooh grabs him by his scarf, like the string of a kite. They pass by Kanga and Roo; Eeyore, whose stick house Pooh breaks as he passes; and Rabbit, whose carrots Pooh inadvertently helps harvest as he slides by. The wind blows Pooh and Piglet to Owl's treehouse, where he invites them in. Pooh wishes Owl a happy Winds-day, as he has everyone else, but Owl informs them that the wind is due to "a mild spring zephyr". As Owl recounts the adventures of various relatives, the strong wind causes his house to sway and eventually collapse, for which he initially blames Pooh. Christopher Robin and the others arrive; as the wrecked house cannot be repaired, Eeyore volunteers to seek out a new house for Owl, who proceeds to tell more stories for quite some time; talking from page 41 to page 62. On page 62, the wind is still blowing as night falls, and Pooh is kept awake by noises outside and opens his door for a visitor: Tigger, who introduces himself with his signature song ("The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers") and informs Pooh that he has come looking for something to eat. Disgusted by the taste of Pooh's honey, Tigger tells him that there are Heffalumps and Woozles in the forest that steal honey, and departs. Frightened, Pooh stays up to guard his honey but falls asleep as a thunderstorm brews up. After a nightmare about Heffalumps and Woozles stealing his honey and chasing him around, he wakes up in a flood caused by the storm. In the flood, Piglet is washed away from his home, writing a message in a bottle for help just before the waters carry him off in a floating chair. Pooh manages to reach higher ground with only ten honey pots, but the rising waters carry him away. Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, and Tigger gather at Christopher Robin's house on the highest ground, while Eeyore continues house hunting for Owl. Roo finds Piglet's bottle, and Owl flies off to tell Piglet that help is on the way. Owl reaches Piglet and Pooh, but before he can inform them of the impending rescue – and tell another boring story – a waterfall threatens to carry them all over the side. Pooh switches places with Piglet as they take the plunge, and the waterfall washes them right into Christopher Robin's yard. Thinking that Pooh has rescued Piglet, Christopher Robin throws a party to celebrate Pooh's heroic deed, where Eeyore announces he has found a new home for Owl. He leads everyone to his discovery which, known to everyone except Owl and Eeyore, is Piglet's beech tree. Owl is impressed, and Piglet generously decides that Owl should have the house. Pooh invites Piglet to move into his home and, impressed by Piglet’s selflessness, asks Christopher Robin to make the party for two heroes instead of one. Voice cast *Sterling Holloway as Winnie the Pooh, a bear who loves honey. *Paul Winchell as Tigger, a tiger who loves to bounce on his tail. *John Fiedler as Piglet, a small pig and Pooh's best friend who fears nearly everything. *Clint Howard as Roo, Kanga's energetic young joey. *Elizabeth Hartman as Kanga, a kangaroo and Roo's mother. *Ralph Wright as Eeyore, an old grey donkey who's always losing his tail and talks in a slow deep depressing voice and tone. *Roddy McDowall as Owl, an owl who loves to talk about his family. *Junius Matthews as Rabbit, a rabbit who is obsessive-compulsive and loves planting his vegetables in his garden. *Jon Walmsley as Christopher Robin, a seven-year-old boy and Pooh's human best friend. *Howard Morris as Gopher, a hardworking gopher who lives underground and often falls into his hole. *Narrated by Sebastian Cabot. *The Mellomen - Singers Songs used *'"A Rather Blustery Day"' is a whimsical song from Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. It was written by Robert & Richard Sherman and sung by Pooh. Although the song title does not exactly match the title of the film, it incorporates the film's title within its own. It is for this reason, this song can also be categorized as a "title song". In the purest sense though, both "Winnie the Pooh" and "A Rather Blustery Day" are title songs. The former was written for the first featurette Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree and has subsequently been utilized in every film borne of the franchise. On the other hand, "A Rather Blustery Day" could only be considered a title song for this particular installment within the Pooh canon. *"Heffalumps and Woozles" is a written by the Sherman Brothers, and performed by The Mellomen. It is also in the 1977 full-length feature film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The song is about phantasmagoria elephants (heffalumps) and weasels (woozles) becoming a threat to Pooh and his food source (honey). The song serves as a soundtrack to the iconic, psychedelic "Pooh Nightmare" sequence where Pooh subconsciously deals with the theft of his all-too-precious honey. The sequence is generally considered by audiences to be quite eerie for a children's film. Elements from this song are played when Pooh can hear growling and banging noises from outside his house, which turn out to be Tigger. It was shown in A Disney Halloween which aired every year from 1983 to the late 1990s.nDespite the song not being featured in the 2005 feature, Pooh's Heffalump Movie, it is generally accepted that the song and accompanying visual montage serves as the inspiration of the Heffalump film. Such is more definitively the case with the relationship between the Sherman Brothers' song, The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers and the 2000 release of The Tigger Movie. The song bears a strong resemblance to the Pink Elephants on Parade animated sequence from the 1941 film Dumbo, which likewise features nightmarish visions of elephants. Part of the melody is highly reminiscent of the chorus of the traditional Scottish song Charlie Is My Darling.nThe song is the main theme in dream scenes of the Winnie the Pooh series of rides at the Disney Parks. Part of the song is played as part of the soundtrack of HalloWishes, a Halloween-themed fireworks display held during Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom and Halloween Screams, a similar-themed show at Disneyland during Mickey's Halloween Party. The song was covered by synthpop group Information Society, along with guest artist Ayria, on their 2016 album Orders of Magnitude. The cover is in the style of industrial music, and is sometimes played in the band's live sets. *'"The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down"' is a narrative song from Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. The song is also incorporated into the 1977 musical film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh which is an amalgamation of three Winnie-the-Pooh featurettes including "Blustery Day". The song was written by the Sherman Brothers who have written most of the music for the Winnie-the-Pooh franchise over the many years. It was sung by an unidentified off-screen chorus with occasional lines sung by veteran character actor Sterling Holloway who provided the voice of Pooh. *'"Hip Hip Pooh-Ray!"' is sung by the cast as a release from the dramatic tension of the story. The song is also incorporated into (and used as the promotional tagline for) the 1977 musical film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh which is an amalgamation of three Winnie-the-Pooh featurettes including "Blustery Day". In the song, Pooh and Piglet are hailed as heroes (Pooh for saving Piglet's life, and Piglet for giving Owl his grand home in the beech tree). The song was written by the Sherman Brothers who have written most of the music for the Winnie-the-Pooh franchise over the years. Production Shortly before Walt Disney's death in December 1966, the animation department was finishing work on The Jungle Book and preparing for The Aristocats. In late summer 1967, before The Aristocats went into production, it was decided to go ahead with a featurette-length sequel to Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. Because The Honey Tree was popular with American audiences, it was decided Blustery Day would be the first animation project without Walt. Under the circumstances, "Nine Old Men" animators Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, and Milt Kahl were brought onto the project. Wolfgang Reitherman remained as director, but he decided to feel more faithful to the source material. During a story meeting for the short, Walt Disney considered Wally Boag to be perfect for the role of Tigger. However, after Walt's death, Boag's performance of the character was considered to be "too zany for a children's film", and he was replaced by ventriloquist Paul Winchell. Following a British backlash to The Honey Tree led by film critic Felix Barker, Piglet was added to the short. For the part, Walt had heard John Fiedler's voice on television and selected him to voice the character. Although Fiedler's natural speaking voice was higher than most men's, he still had to raise it considerably to achieve the character's high pitch. Home video The film was released on VHS and Betamax in 1986. It was re-released in 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, and was also re-released again on July 11, 2000 as part of the Storybook Classics Collection. This short also shows up as a bonus feature on the 2006 DVD release of Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin."Pooh's Grand Adventure - The Search for Christopher Robin." Amazon.com. 27 January 2015. It was also released on the Super 8mm film format by Derann in the early 2000s, making it one of the company's final and rarest films released, with only twelve copies made.Derann Film Services Catalogue 2007 Winnie the Pooh featurettes *''Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree'' (1966) *''Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day'' (1968) *''Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too'' (1974) *''Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore'' (1983) See also *List of American films of 1968 Bibliography * References External links * Category:1968 films Category:1968 short films Category:1960s American animated films Category:Best Animated Short Academy Award winners Category:1960s musical films Category:1960s drama films Category:Disney animated short films, 1960s Category:Films featuring anthropomorphic characters Category:Short films with live action and animation Category:Winnie-the-Pooh featurettes Category:1968 animated films Category:Musicals by the Sherman Brothers Category:Films set in England Category:Animated musical films Category:Short films directed by Wolfgang Reitherman Category:Films produced by Walt Disney Category:Winnie the Pooh (franchise) Category:Films scored by Buddy Baker (composer) Category:American animated featurettes Category:Films directed by Joe Dante Category:Films produced by Francis Ford Coppola Category:Films produced by Roger Corman Category:American Zoetrope films Category:Warner Bros. animated films Category:Film scores by Jack Hayes (composer) Category:Film scores by Leo Shulken